Exploring Different Perspectives

“The more we can get together and talk about various perspectives, feelings, beliefs, the better.”
There are many valuable publications available that offer insight into the Rwandan genocide, offering a wide range of analysis and perspectives. Some are tedious to get through, but packed with detailed information. Some are devastating and difficult to read before bed. Most are thoughtful and will offer new outlooks, and lead you to ask more questions. Today, my recommendations are a couple books that are not specifically centred on the analysis of the Rwandan genocide. Having worked at a book store for 10 months recently, I had the chance to uncover a few interesting books that are geared less toward someone interested in the study of genocide, and more toward a general audience. I found these books offered great new perspectives to explore. They also offered the opportunity to reach out to a few friends and family in a way that some other books on the topic could not. I found it difficult to offer recommendations for further reading and information because the books that I found fascinating were filled with highly detailed political, economic, and military analysis of Rwanda, and similar case studies. A couple of these books then, have offered that bridge, that link to the subject where before there was a wall. This excites me to no end, because what is a good book if you can’t share it? While these books are no literary works of genius, it is the perspective they offer, and the questions and dialogue they inspire that make them well worth the read.

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
This novel is set in an international apartment complex six years after the Rwandan genocide. It follows the life and interactions of a Tanzanian woman and her family living in Kigali. The protagonist has her own business of baking cakes, and this allows the story to reveal her interactions with her many different customers, from many different backgrounds in Kigali. The novel offers some insight into how the genocide affected, and continues to affect, this diverse set of people living in Kigali. While the tone of the novel is a bit off-putting at times, the flow of characters in and out of the plot, and the questions that are raised about unity and reconciliation within Rwanda offers a fascinating and approachable perspective into post-genocide Rwandan society.

The Bone Woman by Clea Koff
This book follows the young forensic anthropologist as she is sent to Rwanda by the UN International Criminal Tribunal two years after the genocide with the task of unearthing physical evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Once again, this book does not delve deeply into the factors and details leading up to the genocide, but it offers an astounding perspective into the tasks and means required by the forensic team to provide conclusive evidence for the genocide. Koff manages to find a precarious balance by providing the technical details of participating in a UN forensics initiative all the while offering her personal perspective and struggles in dealing with the gruesome details of the genocide that are literally at her fingertips. After two missions in Kigali, the book also details her experiences in a similar role in missions undertook to Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo on behalf of the UN. Again, while the book is (in my opinion) not a work of astounding literary accomplishment, it definitely offers one more link and interesting perspective to the history of the genocide.